The aircraft, on a secret mission to eavesdrop on the government in Kiev, narrowly avoided a mid-air collision with the airliner.

Ukrainian authorities claim to have recorded more than 60 incursions into their air space in the two months before Malaysia flight MH17 was blown out of the sky.

The military aircraft often fly with their digital transponders turned off, making them invisible to civilian air traffic.

But Nato spy planes can plot their movements using radar systems both in the air and on warships in the Black Sea.

The Russian “ghost planes” include the intelligence-gathering A-50 spy jet – known to Nato as Mainstay – and SU-27 fighters – codenamed Flanker.

Nato has reported a big rise in incursions across the Baltic states by Russian aircraft which appear to be testing the reaction times of the Polish and German air forces.They have also flown into UK air space three times in recent months.

“Putin appears to have gone into lock down”

A senior defence source

RAF Typhoons based in Lithuania as part of Nato’s Baltic air patrol have been scrambled several times to escort Russian jets away from Nato territory.

A senior defence source said the trend was “worrying”.

He said: “Putin appears to have gone into lock down – US sanctions have simply made him more determined to do things the Soviet way and that could be damaging.

“If you keep verbally attacking someone they will make a stand.

“These ghost planes are both a concern, as it is a clear violation of Ukrainian air space, and a danger to commercial airliners.

Flying at anything between 15,000ft and 35,000ft, the chance of a collision is huge.”

As evidence points towards Moscow’s involvement in the Malaysian jet crash, the UK’s secret service fears it may be in revenge for an attack by Ukraine on a Russian airliner in 2001 in which 78 died.

In a tragic accident the Ukrainian military shot down the plane over the Black Sea.

They initially denied any involvement but later admitted being behind the attack.